No Release For Noriega Anytime Soon

By Alicia Cruz

Senior writer

Theblackurbantimes

It looks like Manuel Antonio Noriega, former general and military dictator of Panama won't be leaving his cell at the maximum security federal prison in Miami anytime soon. French officials are still fighting to obtain their extradition of Noriega as is Panama. No word on when a decision will be made.

Noriega was convicted and sentenced to a 30-year prison term which was reduced for good behavior and that sentence ended in September 2007. American prison officials were ordered to hold Noriega pending the outcome of extradition requests by both Panama and France so he remains in the custody of the Federal Buereau of Prisons today.

The french want the former dictator to face money-laundering charges involving about $3.15 million in drug profits. Panamanian officials tried and convicted Noriega in absentia, of murdering two political opponents. According to his lawyer, Noriega's intentions was to fly to Panama and fight that conviction, but France stopped those plans with their extradition request.

After the 1989 U.S. military invasion of Panama, Noriega was captured, detained as a prisoner of war, and flown to the U.S. to stand trial on eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering. iI April 1992, he was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison. To add insult to injury, officials later learned that Noriega had been on the CIA payroll for years, including acting as liaison to then Cuban President Fidel Castro.

La Isla Low on the Nessecities...

...So bring your own toilet paper if you're going to be in Cuba

By Alicia Cruz
Senior writer
Theblackurbantimes.com

An increase spending for imports, reduced export income, the three hurricanes that hit the Island last year and the overall global financial crunch have all depleted Cuba 's financial reserves. The communist-led government has had to take extraordinary measures to keep the economy afloat in order to provide their natives with the basic necessities.

Toilet paper is running very low and officials may not get sufficient supplies until the end of the year. "The corporation has taken all the steps so that at the end of the year there will be an important importation of toilet paper," an official with state conglomerate Cimex said on state-run Radio Rebelde. The shipment will enable the state-run company "to supply this demand that today is presenting problems," he said.

Cuba both imports toilet paper and produces its own, but does not currently have enough raw materials to make it, he said.
Cuba imports about 60 percent of its food.Despite the shortages, prices will be cut between 5 percent and 27 percent for some food, drugs and personal hygiene products, officials said.
A visit to a store in Havana's Vedado neighborhood on Friday found that prices had dropped for mayonnaise, barbecue sauce and canned squid. One customer, who gave his name only as Pedro, complained that "it doesn't look like prices have been lowered for the fundamental products" such as cooking oil.

Cubans receive a subsidized food ration from the government each month that they say meets their needs for about two weeks. Cuba has long blamed the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against the island for many of its economic problems. It also said that last year's hurricanes did $10 billion worth of damage that forced the government to spend heavily on imports of food and reconstruction products.
Castro, who replaced his ailing older brother Fidel Castro as president last year, also has complained that Cuba's productivity is too low. He has taken various steps to boost output, including putting more state-owned land in private hands and pushing for salaries to be based on productivity.

Fidel Castro: 'Obama, How Can We Help?'

Fidel Castro asks US lawmakers how to improve ties

A "very healthy, very energetic" Fidel Castro asked visiting Congressional Black Caucus members what Cuba could do to help President Barack Obama improve bilateral relations during his first meeting with U.S. officials since falling ill in 2006.
Caucus leader Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat from California, said the ailing former Cuban president talked for nearly two hours with her and two other delegation members on Tuesday in a meeting seen as signaling Cuba's willingness to discuss better relations with the United States.
"We believe it is time to open dialogue and discussion with Cuba," Lee told a news conference in Washington upon the caucus members' return. "Cubans do want dialogue. They do want talks. They do want normal relations."
Lee said the group would present its findings to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a fellow Democrat from California, and White House and State Department officials.
California Democratic Rep. Laura Richardson, who also met Fidel with Illinois Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush, said Castro "looked directly into our eyes" and asked how Cuba could help Obama in his efforts to change the course of U.S. foreign policy.
Richardson said she had the impression that 82-year-old Fidel wants to see changes in U.S.-Cuba relations in his lifetime.
Lee said she found Castro "very healthy, very energetic, very clear thinking."
The surprise encounter came a day after the full delegation of six representatives spent more than four hours talking privately with Cuban President Raul Castro, his first encounter with U.S. officials since formally replacing his brother as head of state nearly 14 months ago.
And it comes as Washington discusses whether to warm up long-chilly relations with Cuba. Obama has ordered an assessment of U.S. policy toward the communist nation and some members of Congress are pushing to lift a ban on Americans visiting the island.
Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006 and it was his first meeting in several years with American officials. Although he gave up his presidential duties after becoming ill, he remains an influential force in Cuba.
In a column posted on a government Web site late Tuesday night, Castro wrote about his meeting with the three U.S. representatives, saying Cuban leaders "weren't aggressors, nor did we threaten the United States."
"Cuba did not have any alternative but to take the initiative," he said in explaining why he sought the lawmakers' advice on what his country could do to help Obama improve bilateral relations.

Miami Cuban voters still support U.S. embargo

MIAMI (AP) - Cuban-American voters here remain dominated by an older generation with more extreme views on U.S.-Cuba foreign policy, including support for the U.S. embargo against their communist homeland, according to an exit poll taken during the 2008 election.
The University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies published its poll results Friday.
The 48-year-old embargo against Cuba should be kept the same or even tightened, according to 57 percent of the Cuban-American voters interviewed in Miami-Dade County during early voting and on Election Day last November.
Younger Cuban-Americans and recent Cuban immigrants may have more moderate or even liberal attitudes toward the sanctions, but they are less likely to vote, said University of Miami political science professor Casey Klofstad, one of the poll's four authors.
The poll did show some thawing in the community, though. A similar 2004 exit poll of Cuban-American voters in Miami-Dade showed that 64 percent supported tightening the embargo and 53 would have tightened U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba.
"Those people shifted to thinking that the present state of the restrictions is satisfactory, that they should be kept about the same," said co-author Ben Bishin, a political science professor at the University of California, Riverside. He also co-authored the 2004 exit poll.
The thaw is easier to see than to explain. In 2004, Fidel Castro was still in power in Havana. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry also proposed lifting restrictions for all travel to Cuba, not just for Cuban-Americans.
"We can't tell if that's a result of Fidel transferring power to (his brother) Raul or that the economy was the most important issue in 2008," Bishin said. "The other thing is Obama's promises for changing U.S.-Cuba policy were much more measured than John Kerry's."
The 2008 exit poll showed 53 percent of the Cuban-American voters supported keeping or tightening the travel ban.
Those restrictions have changed since Election Day.
President Barack Obama earlier this month signed a $410 billion spending bill that rolled back Bush administration limits on Cuban-Americans visiting their relatives on the island.
The bill effectively allows visits once a year, removes restrictions on how long people can stay in Cuba and permits spending up to $179 a day. However, the changes only remain in effect until the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.
Several Cuban-Americans interviewed Friday in Miami's Little Havana said they were weary of bans and sanctions that have done little to budge either Castro from power.
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Cuba and Venezuela could provide bases for Russian Bombers

Report: Cuba, Venezuela could host Russian bombers
By DAVID NOWAK, Asssociated Press Writer David Nowak, Asssociated Press Writer 1 hr 28 mins ago

MOSCOW – A Russian Air Force chief said Saturday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has offered an island as a temporary base for strategic Russian bombers, the Interfax news agency reported.

The chief of staff of Russia's long range aviation, Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, also said Cuba could be used to base the aircraft, Interfax reported.

The Kremlin, however, said the situation was hypothetical.

"The military is speaking about technical possibilities, that's all," Alexei Pavlov, a Kremlin official, told The Associated Press. "If there will be a development of the situation, then we can comment," he said.

Zhikharev said Chavez had offered "a whole island with an airdrome, which we can use as a temporary base for strategic bombers," the agency reported. "If there is a corresponding political decision, then the use of the island ... by the Russian Air Force is possible."

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